Solara

Solara is an open-source framework for building web apps in pure Python. It had two audiences: evaluators deciding whether to adopt it, and developers trying to build with it in documentation that read as a wall of text.

Two products, one design system

As product designer and UX lead on Solara’s team of five, I designed the marketing site and the documentation as two products sharing one system. The work was delivered in Figma for the team’s engineers to implement.

• A visual language for both surfaces, built around a sunrise identity

• More than 100 atomic components, built in Figma

• A redesigned information architecture and quieter layouts for the documentation

• A responsive reference prototype with real breakpoints, so engineers could implement layouts instead of interpreting static mockups

Over six months, monthly downloads grew 1,300% to 170,000. The design work was part of a wider relaunch that also relied on the founders’ own promotion of the framework.

Compare the documentation before and after in the Solara case study